1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a camera having a viewfinder device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of silver-halide type cameras, there has been proposed a viewfinder device which is arranged to guide a light flux passing through a photo taking lens to an image sensor and to have an object image displayed on a display device by using a signal outputted from the image sensor. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 1-133037 also discloses a viewfinder system for a camera, which is arranged as shown in FIG. 10. Referring to FIG. 10, a light flux passing through a photo taking lens 101 forms an object image on a image sensor 109 through a reflection mirror 108. The object image is photo-electric converted into an electrical signal by the image sensor 109.
The electrical signal is stored in a memory device 121 through a camera control unit 120. The stored electrical signal is arranged to be supplied either to a monitor 122 or a printer 123, so that the state of an object image obtained at the time of or immediately before the time of an exposure of a silver-halide film can be confirmed. The viewfinder device arranged in this manner enables the camera operator to know at once whether a shot taken is a success or a failure and how it looks.
However, the examples of the prior art cited above have not been arranged to process signals paying any heed to the photosensitivity characteristic of the film, the luminosity or density characteristic of the display device 122 or the printer 123.
This negligence tends to result in a difference between a video image obtained on the monitor 122 or the printer 123 and a picture actually obtained by developing the film. Hence it has been probable that the monitoring confirmation leads to a misjudgment in taking a shot.
Further, it has been impossible to prevent an unacceptable shot from being taken, because the success or the failure of the shot cannot be found before completion of photographing. Such uncertainty has prompted photographers to use further amounts of film than actually necessary when they wish to take good pictures.